Regan's Rant: Rockets game notes vs. Giants

Friday, March 14, 2014

Rockets game notes vs. Giants

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets play their final road game of the regular season tonight in Vancouver against the Giants. A win will tie the WHL record for road wins, which is 29, set last season by the Portland Winterhawks. The Rockets are coming off a 4-1 victory in Kamloops Wednesday night which allowed the club to clinch the Western Hockey League regular season title for a third time in franchise history. Ryan Olsen scored twice while Nick Merkley and Tyrell Goulbourne added singles. The Rockets are 5-1-0-0 in the seasonal series against the G-Men with five of the six games decided by two goals or less. The Rockets have won twelve of their last fifteen games overall. The Rockets close out the regular season tomorrow night at home against this same Vancouver Giants hockey club.

Who’s Hot: Nick Merkley has points in eleven of his last thirteen games. Merkley has 11+5=16 over that period. Marek Tvrdon has 18 points in his last 16 games (7+11=18). Damon Severson has points in thirteen of his last 19 games…Myles Bell has points in 7 of his last 11 games. The 20 year-old has 3+5=8 over that period….The Rockets are 47-6-0-4 in their last 57 home games dating back to last season. Rourke Chartier has 3+8=11 in his last ten games…Chartier has 34 points in his last 34 games.

Better than before: Several players are enjoying career seasons. Madison Bowey has 27 more points than he had last season. Bowey has 6 more goals and 21 more assists…Damon Severson has 60 points, 8 more than a season prior. Severson has 15+45=60…Rourke Chartier has 24 more points than a year ago. Chartier has scored 9 more goals and 16 more assists than in 2012-2013…Tyrell Goulbourne has 9 more points than last season including three more goals.

This and That: The Rockets have claimed the WHL regular season title in 2013, 2003 and 2002…The Rockets will face the Tri City Americans in round one of the WHL playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history. Game one is Saturday March 22^nd at Prospera Place…Madison Bowey is one goal away from tying Tyson Barrie’s single season record for goals by a Rockets d-man…Dalton Yorke is able to return to the lineup after serving a three game suspension assessed in a fight against Everett last Tuesday….For the first time in franchise history the Kelowna Rockets are enjoying back-to-back 50 wins seasons….Myles Bell became the first player since Geordie Wudrick to score 40 or more goals in a season. Wudrick had 43 in 2010-2011….The Rockets have seven more wins on the road than the 21 they had all of last season…Of Myles Bell’s 41 goals this season, 22 have been scored on the road with 19 coming on home ice…The Rockets are 10-6-0-0 in their last 16 road games…The Rockets are 9-2-0-2 in their last 13 home games…The Rockets are 22-6-0-2 since the WHL trade deadline.…The Rockets have been involved in 11-one goal games on home ice this season…Cole Martin is +107 over the last two seasons…The Rockets have scored six or more goals twelve times on home ice this season… The Rockets are 18-4-0-0 in the second game when facing back-to-back scenarios this season….The team has been rated as the best team in the CHL according to the Top 10 junior rankings for an 11^th consecutive week….After losing two of his first three games, Jackson Whistle has won 16 of his last 18 games…The Rockets have played in 9 shootout games this season and are 5 and 4. Four of the five shootout wins have come on the road in Tri City, Victoria, Prince George and Seattle…Jordon Cooke is 45-7-0-3 at home in last 55 starts at home dating back to last season…The Rockets have scored 4 or more goals in 25 of their 35 road games this season…In 9 of the Rockets 11 regulation losses this season, leading scorer Myles Bell has failed to score…Bell is tied for the league lead in game winning goals with 9….Bell has just 23 power play points. That translates into 51 of his points coming even strength…Two birthdays in March. Cole Martin will turn 20 on March 15^th. Ryan Olsen will turn 20 on March 25^th….Nick Merkley is one goal shy of Shane McColgan’s record of 25 goals scored by a 16 year-old rookie…Seventeen year-old Tanner Wishnowski made his debut Tuesday night scoring his first WHL goal in his first career game.

Rockets Three Star Leaders:

1^st Star 2^nd Star 3^rd Star Total